Exclusive: Crystal Renee Hayslett talks Praise This and Tyler Perry's Zatima
Currently playing on Peacock from Universal Pictures and producer Will Packer is Praise This, directed by Tina Gordon and starring Chloe Bailey, Druski, Anjelika Washington, Quavo, Tristan Mack Wilds, Birgundi Baker, Crystal Hayslett, Loren Lott, Jekalyn Carr, Koryn Hawthorne, Cocoa Brown, Rafael Castillo, Michael Anthony, Kendrick Cross, Janora McDuffie, Kountry Wayne, Philip Fornah, and Vanessa Fraction.
The film is a new cinematic musical event set in the world of Atlanta’s competitive gospel youth choir praise teams.
Praise This follows aspiring musical superstar Sam (Chloe Bailey), a young woman driven, at almost any cost, to break into the music business. So, when her father (Philip Fornah), worried that Sam is associating with a dangerous crowd, moves them from Los Angeles to Atlanta to live with Sam’s sunny cousin, Jess (Anjelika Washington), Sam is …not happy.
But when Sam is forced to join her cousin’s struggling, underdog praise team in the lead-up to a national championship competition, she sees an opportunity to finally make her dreams come true. What she discovers, though, is that ambition can command a high price and that praise is not about glory, but gratitude.
For Crystal Renee Hayslett, who plays Mack Wild’s Pastor Nick Goodman’s wife, ‘Natalie’, in the film, the Tennessee native is having a ball on film and on television.
Hayslett also stars as ‘Fatima’ in Tyler Perry’s Sistas on BET and its spinoff Zatima on BET+. ZATIMA is centered around the original show’s beloved couple, ‘Zac’ and ‘Fatima’, informally known as “Zatima”. The series premiered in September 2022 and returned for a second season on March 16, 2023.
In less than ten years, Hayslett has worked her way up from being Tyler Perry’s personal stylist for years to a recurring player on Sistas as Andi’s secretary to becoming a series regular and fan favorite and now leading her own series. Besides acting, Hayslett is an accomplished singer and folks can see her vocal talents in Praise This when she sings the original song, “Nothing Else.”
Blackfilmandtv.com’s Wilson Morales caught up with Hayslett as she spoke about her role in Praise This and her journey leading up to Sistas, Zatima and now Tina Gordon’s Praise This.